morning
Americannoun
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mornings
plural
adjective
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of or relating to morning.
the morning hours.
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occurring, appearing, used, etc., in the morning.
a morning coffee break.
noun
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the first part of the day, ending at or around noon
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sunrise; daybreak; dawn
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the beginning or early period
the morning of the world
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informal the aftereffects of excess, esp a hangover
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(modifier) of, used, or occurring in the morning
morning coffee
Usage
What is a basic definition of morning? Morning refers to the beginning of the day. Morning is used figuratively to refer to the beginning of anything. Morning is also used to describe something that involves or occurs during the morning. Depending on who you ask, the exact hours of the morning will be different. Generally speaking, morning begins either at sunrise or at midnight (12 a.m.) and ends at noon (12 p.m.).
- Real-life examples: People usually sleep at night and wake up in the morning. The sun rises in the morning. Roosters are known to crow during the morning when the sun comes up.
- Used in a sentence: I would rather sleep until noon than wake up early in the morning.
- Real-life examples: The first movies were made in the morning of the film industry. Babyhood is the morning of a human’s life.
- Used in a sentence: Archaeologists discovered artifacts left behind by people who lived during the morning of civilization.
- Real-life examples: A morning person likes being awake in the morning. A morning shower is taken in the early part of the day.
- Used in a sentence: Delivering the morning newspaper means waking up at 5 a.m.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of morning
First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English; morn + -ing 1; modeled on evening
Explanation
Morning is the earliest part of the day. No matter what time you get up, morning ends at noon. Originally, in the 13th century, morning meant the time just before sunrise. Now, morning technically starts at 12:00am and lasts until 12:00pm. If you describe yourself as a "morning person," you like to get up early. Strangely enough, a "night person," who stays up very late might not go to bed until several early-morning hours have passed.
Vocabulary lists containing morning
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
I got up at 9:30 today and the first thing I do in the morning is brush my teeth.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
The strike lasted several hours overnight and into the morning, local sources say.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
San Francisco Bay and Monterey Bay are at risk of flooding in places like parking lots, parks and roads, the National Weather Service said, through early Thursday morning.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2026
China's NMC issued a red typhoon alert -- its most severe warning -- on Sunday morning, forecasting "extraordinary torrential rain" in some areas of central and eastern Zhejiang.
From Barron's ● Aug. 9, 2026
In the morning, he wakes up feeling like his old self and insists that he has to get back to work.
From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman
For example, someone who needs Wednesday mornings off for physical therapy can request that as a disability accommodation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
Between April and June, I went to his studio a few mornings each week for a couple of hours.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
Recent mornings have been cloudy in some areas.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
That’s a reference to how it would be darker and colder on winter mornings for children walking to their bus stops and schools.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026
They spent two mornings a week in the library with Dr. Perez and her flying llama translating all the different incants used by Marvellians from around the world.
From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
